Why is there a reluctance for democrats to campaign in rural counties in Iowa?

[Queen Isuelt]

https://twitter.com/amyklobuchar/status/1210731530202435584

So Amy Klobuchar is the first major candidate to visit and campaign in all 99 counties.
- She campaigned in all 87 counties in Minnesota (senate run) and is one of the FEW democrats left that still believes in campaigning in rural towns. Sherrod Brown does the same in Ohio. Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin.

Just to put this in context, the number of counties other 4 major candidates have visited in Iowa.
- Amy Klobuchar - 99
- Joe Biden - 46
- Bernie Sanders - 44
- Elizabeth Warren - 44
- Pete Buttigieg 42

Another interesting statistic is out of the 32 counties that voted Obama/Trump in Iowa, Klobuchar is the only candidate to have visited all of them.

Democratic strategists say its a waste of time for serious candidates because in Iowa some counties are so conservative (particularly in Iowa-4) and you will be lucky to get 40-50 people turning up for an event so why waste the time. Others say its because the major counties in Iowa are totally saturated with Biden, Sanders, Warren and Pete that they can't leave the areas as they will lose ground.

My personal view is this modern way of campaigning - talking to people who agree with you and spending time racking up votes to increase turnout in urban/metropolitan areas - is a losing strategy long term. Its bad for the house and senate and its giving up territory and giving voters no choice.

When you think about 20-30 years, democrats had senators in Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas and were winning large number of rural counties. Democrats would win here. The party has abandoned voters here and giving up campaigning forcing voters to feel like they only have one party to vote for. Rural communities have major problems that democrats can appeal to but if you have candidates that can't be bothered to campaign there then why should they change their vote.

What's interesting is Klobuchar has said that if she was to be the nominee she would campaign in every county in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennslyvania and go "wherever its difficult and let Republicans know that she wants to bring everyone together".

[DINGO Joe]

Wonder how many Iowa counties Trump has been too?

There are other states too, so unless you're putting all your eggs in one basket, it would be pretty pointless to try to hit them all.

[Florida Man for Crime]

So Amy Klobuchar is the first major candidate to visit and campaign in all 99 counties.

Are you trying to tell me that John Delaney is not a MAJOR candidate?

There are other states too, so unless you're putting all your eggs in one basket, it would be pretty pointless to try to hit them all.

This is the key point. The other candidates mentioned (Biden/Bernie/etc) are running national campaigns. The choice they face is not so much whether to campaign in Adams County Iowa (565 Clinton 2016 votes) or to campaign 1 more time in Polk County Iowa, the choice is whether to campaign in Adams County Iowa or in Riverside County California (which votes on Super Tuesday, literally only 1 month after Iowa votes).

Whereas Klobuchar's only chance of getting into the national race is to do very well in Iowa, so she can afford to (really, she has no choice but to) go all out just on Iowa specifically, and hope that winning or performing well in Iowa can be enough to give her momentum so that she can stay in the race after that.

[NYSforKennedy2024]

Just to put this in context, the number of counties other 4 major candidates have visited in Iowa.
- Amy Klobuchar - 99
- Joe Biden - 46
- Bernie Sanders - 44
- Elizabeth Warren - 44
- Pete Buttigieg 42

People need to remember this when they try arguing that Klobuchar stands no chance to win Iowa.

Not only does she have a major operation in Iowa - she has the widest-ranging operation in Iowa. She also fits the demographics and politics of Iowa far more than someone like Bernie, Warren, or Buttigieg.

[Zaybay]

Cause there's really no point in visiting every county. There are a lot of costs associated with hosting rallies and townhalls, so, as a presidential candidate looking to win the nomination, you want to maximize your returns. For a Democratic candidate like Biden or Sanders, the cost of going to Lyon county, which holds maybe 150-250 D primary voters, is rather costly when he could be holding a rally in Polk county instead, which holds 11-15K Democratic voters.

Of course it can be good publicity to visit every county in a state, but thats largely the biggest(and only) reason to visit every county, publicity. Beto's tour of TX may have looked good to the public, but in the end he still did almost the exact same that Clinton did in the deep-red panhandle counties.

The fact of the matter is that Klobuchar's campaign is actively putting all of its eggs into IA, and is trying to squeeze as many votes as it can, no matter the cost. For candidates like Warren and Buttigieg, this isnt necessary and probably even a net-negative.

[Adam Griffin]

Most counties have relatively few people, of course. I would also imagine in today's 24-hour media cycle and Very Online Twitter crowd, every small town visited invites criticism ("look at [candidate], who only drew 20 people to a crowd in [random town with 400 people]!").

24 of Iowa's 99 counties had fewer than 5,000 voters in the 2016 general election; an additional 41 had fewer than 10,000 voters. In the 2016 Democratic caucus, these 65 counties comprised 21% of state delegate equivalents (SDEs). Obviously, that means the remaining one-third of counties (uncolored) comprised roughly 4 in 5 SDEs.

Of these 65 counties, not a single one voted for Clinton, and less than a quarter voted for Obama in 2012. Basically, nearly half of IA's counties didn't vote for a Democrat for President in the past 2 presidential elections, and have next-to-no Democratic votes in caucuses (even if they are still likely over-represented).

[MT Treasurer]

Cause there's really no point in visiting every county.

Joni Ernst just completed her fifth annual 99 county tour and is leading her Democratic opponent by a lopsided margin in the polls. If not for her Roast and Ride events, authentic handshakes, empathetic hugs, moving speeches, engaging face-to-face interactions with the common people of Iowa, delicious barbecue sandwiches, and motorcycle rides from Dubuque to Des Moines to Boone to Sioux City, etc., do you really think she’d be doing a lot better than Trump in the polls?

It’s called RETAIL POLITICS, Zaybay, and it’s POWERFUL

[538Electoral]

Because they want to win.

[Mr. Smith]

Idk, why didn't the GOP barnstorm out all the urban and suburban Colorado counties in 2016?

Why aren't Dems taking no prisoners with the Texas 254? Or the 58 California counties...especially Bernie and Warren!

If you know the answer to these, then the answer here is obvious.

[Minnesota Mike]

Cause there's really no point in visiting every county.

Joni Ernst just completed her fifth annual 99 county tour and is leading her Democratic opponent by a lopsided margin in the polls. If not for her Roast and Ride events, authentic handshakes, empathetic hugs, moving speeches, engaging face-to-face interactions with the common people of Iowa, delicious barbecue sandwiches, and motorcycle rides from Dubuque to Des Moines to Boone to Sioux City, etc., do you really think she’d be doing a lot better than Trump in the polls?

It’s called RETAIL POLITICS, Zaybay, and it’s POWERFUL

Joni Ernst also is only running in Iowa.  Except for Klobuchar who must win Iowa to have any shot it makes no sense for any other major candidate to commit the time and effort to do the full Grassley.

[LiberalDem19]

If Democrats want to win back Iowa, they're gonna have to do campaign more in rural areas. Same for Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio, and if they want to put Minnesota back in the safe blue column. The metro areas only have so many votes. And not just in the designated coffee shop in the county seat.

One reason why Klobuchar's my pick is that she understands this.

[Mr. Morden]

If Democrats want to win back Iowa, they're gonna have to do campaign more in rural areas. Same for Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio, and if they want to put Minnesota back in the safe blue column. The metro areas only have so many votes. And not just in the designated coffee shop in the county seat.

One reason why Klobuchar's my pick is that she understands this.

To be clear though, none of them are currently campaigning there for the purpose of winning it in the general election in November.  They're there because they want to win the caucuses in February.

[brucejoel99]

Yeah, there's no point to campaigning in every county unless your campaign's hopes & dreams to live another day literally live & die in Iowa. Amy's do. The others' don't.